Earthquakes Fast Facts

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Photos:10 deadliest earthquakes

70,000 people were killed or presumed dead on May 31, 1970, when a 7.9 earthquake hit Chimbote, Peru.

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Photos:10 deadliest earthquakes

When 72,000 people were killed by a magnitude-7.2 earthquake in Messina, Italy, more than 40% of the city's population was killed. The December 28, 1908, quake caused a tsunami and was felt throughout Sicily.

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Photos:10 deadliest earthquakes

86,000 people were killed on October 8, 2005, when a magnitude-7.6 earthquake slammed northern Pakistan. The heaviest damage occurred in parts of Kashmir, where entire villages were destroyed.

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The magnitude-7.9 earthquake that struck eastern Sichuan, China on May 12, 2008, killed 87,587 people and was felt in parts of Bangladesh, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Photos:10 deadliest earthquakes

A statue of Turkmenistan's former President Saparmurad Niyazov sits in front of the earthquake memorial in Ashgabat, 13 February 2007. Almost all the brick buildings in Ashgabat, collapsed and 110,000 people were killed when a magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck October 5, 1948.

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Photos:10 deadliest earthquakes

A 7.9 earthquake in the Tokyo-Yokohama area of Japan killed 142,800. The quake, which took place on September 1, 1923, caused firestorms and generated a tsunami.

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An estimated 200,000 people were killed when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Haiyuan County, China, on December 16, 1920. Here, Muslims pray outside a mosque in Haiyuan in 2007.

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Photos:10 deadliest earthquakes

227,898 people were killed on December 26, 2004, when a magnitude-9.1. quake hit Sumatra. This was the third-largest earthquake measured since 1900. Almost 2 million people were displaced by the earthquake and resulting tsunami.

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On July 27, 1976, a magnitude-7.5 earthquake killed an estimated 242,769 people in Tangshan, China. Unofficial estimates put the toll at much higher, perhaps 655,000 deaths.

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Photos:10 deadliest earthquakes

A magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. Official estimates put the death toll at 316,000 people, but other estimates suggest substantially lower casualties -- perhaps 230,000 or lower. More than 1 million people were displaced.

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(CNN)Here's some background information about earthquakes worldwide.

The U.S. Geological Survey describes an earthquake as "the ground shaking caused by a sudden slip on a fault. Stresses in the earth's outer layer push the sides of the fault together. Stress builds up and the rocks slips suddenly, releasing energy in waves that travel through the earth's crust and cause the shaking that we feel during an earthquake."

Major Earthquakes since 2000:(selected timeline of earthquakes around the world with death tolls exceeding 100)

May 21, 2003 - An estimated 2,266 people are killed by a magnitude 6.8 quake in northern Algeria.

December 26, 2003 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes the city of Bam in southeast Iran. Around 31,000 people die in the quake.

February 24, 2004 - Approximately 631 people are killed in Morocco by a magnitude 6.4 quake.

December 26, 2004 - A magnitude 9.1 earthquake strikes off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake and tsunamis generated by the earthquake kill 227,898 people in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Bangladesh. The quake releases an amount of energy equal to a 100-gigaton bomb and lasted between 500-600 seconds.

March 28, 2005 - A magnitude 8.7 earthquake strikes off the coast of Indonesia, on the same fault line that originated a December 26 earthquake that launched a deadly tsunami. At least 1,300 people are killed.

October 8, 2005 - A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes Pakistan. At least 86,000 people are killed.

February 6, 2012 - A 6.7-magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Negros, Philippines, killing at least 113 people.

August 11, 2012 - Two earthquakes hit northern Iran. The first, a 6.4-magnitude earthquake strikes and 11 minutes later a second earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.3 hits. At least 306 people are killed.

November 7, 2012 - A 7.4 earthquake off the coast of Guatemala kills an estimated 139 people.

April 20, 2013- An earthquake strikes the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, killing at least 192 people. The U.S. Geological Survey gauges it at 6.6-magnitude and the China Earthquake Networks Center estimates it at 7.0-magnitude.

August 3, 2014 - An earthquake hits China's Yunnan province, killing at least 615 people and injuring more than 2,400. The U.S. Geological Survey gauges the quake at 6.1 magnitude, and the China Earthquake Networks Center estimates it at 6.5 magnitude.

October 26, 2015 -A 7.5-magnitude earthquake hits South Asia, killing at least 364 people and injuring more than 2,000 others. The epicenter is in northeastern Afghanistan, but most of the deaths - at least 248 - are reported in Pakistan.